Today I had planned to write a much more different post. One that outlined my guidebook for the weirdest Christmas Presents of the year. It was light hearted, simple, and occasionally funny. Unfortunately now that is the farthest thing from my mind. I wish this post was more eloquent, but I wrote it with a very heavy heart:
Today an unspeakable tragedy rocked a small town in Connecticut. On any given day the murdering of 26 people, 27 including the shooter is an atrocity. Today is something different, when even our children aren't safe, and twenty kids are dead. Kids. Six beloved faculty and staff. And one madman. This was an act that began with a matricide and ended in a massacre that has shaken the American collective to its core. A senseless crime which stirs many more questions than answers. It is a truly terrible day in American History.
Immediately after the story went national, social media and new media universes exploded with chatter. Some prayers, some rants, all astonished. Shock, a feeling that I understand, was felt by millions, hundreds of millions across our country today. Naturally people wanted someone to blame and instead of going after the 20 year-old shooter, the issue of gun control was the ultimate villain. Hundreds, thousands, millions poured online and on television to complain about gun control, politics, legislative issues, mental health, and left vs. right ideologies. Today was a despicable day in our history and although my pain and sorrow is with the families of Newtown CT, my anger is towards the American people.
Let me first say that I believe in the 2nd Amendment. I believe the founders put it into law for a reason. I believe that we need to have an overhaul of our gun control policies. To own and possibly use a handgun is an understandable purchase. On the other hand, an AK-47, semi-automatic machine guns, "cop killer bullets," have no place in average American hands. I believe that we need to take better care of our mentally ill, our disabled, and our displaced. I believe Obamacare is a step in that direction, but it is not even remotely enough. I believe in the power of Liberal governance and in the power of anti-violence, anti-domestic violence, and alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs. I believe in these things and many more. I also believe that the way in which all of these issues being discussed today is despicable.
Today is a day in which we mourn the loss of 27 people. When we, as this American collective, project love onto a day filled with hate. Instead we made this day into a political and social snake pit. As President Obama finished his speech, media commentators with their first words began to talk about how he could have used more emotion like that out on the campaign. Facebook exploded with comments focused entirely on mental health and gun control. Pointless arguments were posed. Anger and hate filled the net and the airwaves.
A friend, one who I respect, told me that this is the exact time to discuss these issues, that if we don't we will fall back into the swing of things within a few weeks. Perhaps he is right, and I know that Americans move on far too quickly, but if he is completely correct than I don't want to live in his world. A political argument was being waged while the bodies were still warm. This is wrong. We need to all grow a conscience. And fast. If anyone thought that gun control laws would be changed overnight, then they have a serious problem with understanding how this country works. Since laws can't be changed with so much immediacy, we need to take a moment, a day, a week to mourn the lives of those who perished. Screw the politics and the debate. The only thing that Americans should be doing tonight is hugging their loved ones and telling them that they love them. We should collectively be hoping and praying for love in a world that is so consumed by hate. To turn today into a political pissing match is spiting on the graves of those who have died. Graves, I might add, that haven't even been dug.
You tell me that you are sick of ignoring tragedies by honoring them. What the hell is wrong with you. Everyday I am vocal about my belief in the need for gun control policy changes. Where is everyone else. Today I choose to mourn the dead, yes to honor them, and if you think for one second that I am ignoring a tragedy then you are dead wrong. I only wish to take pause, to have a moment of silence for Dawn Hochsprung and Mary Sherlach, the principal and psychologist who perished. I only wish to remember the lives that were ended so quickly. I only wish to pray for the victims of the second worst school shooting in American History. Have a heart, take time, reflect, pray, hope, cry, mourn. Those are human qualities that so many of us seem to have lost. You don't want the issue of gun control to leave the news then you keep talking about it, you be vocal, constantly. But not today. Today you cry. Today you remember when Hochsprung, the VP, and Sherlach ran into the hall, only one of them returned. Today you remember the "beautiful little kids." Today you think of your own children, your own families, your own friends.
Tomorrow you get to work
Today your heart is broken.
I finish with the closing scene from the West Wing episode 20 Hours in America, Part II. Martin Sheen, as President Bartlet remarks on a bombing at a fictional college in Iowa.
Bartlet: "We did not seek nor did we provoke an assault on our freedom and our way of life. We did not expect nor did we invite a confrontation with evil. Yet the true measure of a people's strength is how they rise to master that moment when it does arrive. Forty-four people were killed a couple of hours ago at Kennison State University. Three swimmers from the men's team were killed and two others are in critical condition, when, after having heard the explosion from their practice facility, they ran into the fire to help get people out. Ran into the fire. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They're our students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels."
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